Booklist recently unveiled their Top 10 Diverse Books reading lists of 2017*, including these two Macmillan titles:

I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi
Ajayi, aka popular blogger Awesomely Luvvie, has crafted an astute and humorous handbook about how to navigate social media and its impact on everything from self-esteem to racial attitudes.

IF I WAS YOUR GIRL by Meredith Russo, read by Samia Mounts
Russo draws heavily from her real-life experiences as a trans woman for her debut novel, and Mounts’ expressive performance enhances this powerful story of her struggles and the challenges she faced. readmoreremove

BLACK ELK: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson
Jackson’s exhaustively researched biography of the Sioux visionary and medicine man details his life and the landmark events that shaped it, evoking awe over Black Elk’s struggle to help his embattled people preserve their culture and traditions.

THE HOUR OF LAND: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams
Williams, an ardent and scrupulous witness to the living world, eloquently reports on her visits to a dozen national parks, interweaving vivid history, precise and rhapsodic description, personal stories, and evocative thoughts about the future.

THE SPORT OF KINGS by C. E. Morgan
This ambitious epic of Faulknerian dimension tells multiple stories across many generations, as Morgan attempts to throw her arms around the history of southern racism with the same fervor that she tackles the region’s white family dynasties.

THE VIRGINITY OF FAMOUS MEN by Christine Sneed
Sneed investigates the dynamics of sexual power, the eroticism of fame, and the impossibility of sequestering pain in her marvelously lucid, empathic, and witty short stories. readmoreremove

HIDE by Matthew Griffin
Griffin follows the relationship between two gay men living on the fringes of society, in constant fear of being found out, through the decades, recalling in flashbacks how they met and stayed together, and capturing the quotidian moments of life.

AMERICAN GIRLS by Alison UmmingerAnna, 15, escapes upheaval at home by spending the summer with her half-sister, Delia, in L.A., where Anna becomes involved in a project about Charles Manson that helps her comes to terms with her family and herself.

THE BOOK OF SPECULATION by Erika Swyler, read by Ari Fliakos
Myths, mermaids, tarot cards, and a family curse flow together in this tale of a librarian who receives an unsolicited package that opens up the secrets of his family history. Fliakos captures character and tone in this splendidly performed tale.

THE FORGETTING TIME by Sharon Guskin, read by Susan Bennett and David Pittu
Guskin’s debut intertwines two imaginative stories: a preschooler continually asks for his “other mother,” and a psychiatrist studies reincarnation in young children. Pitch-perfect performances from Bennett and Pittu add drama and emotion to the complex story.

IF I WAS YOUR GIRL by Meredith Russo, read by Samia Mounts
Russo draws heavily on her real-life experiences as a transgender woman in this powerful coming-of-age novel. Mounts’ moving performance perfectly depicts teenage Amanda’s struggles to find love, acceptance, and safety.

*Titles included were reviewed between October 15, 2015 and October 1, 2016.